Leftovers from Avalanche’s Cali road trip

Just a few video snapshots from the recently completed road trip.
First, that Brian Elliott video I couldn’t download last night. I know a lot of you still don’t know what the guy looks or sounds like.

Matt Duchene talking about the Avs’ buzzard luck last night and overall lately.

Here’s a few seconds I shot of what it’s like right outside of the Staples Center on game nights. The Avs had just played the Kings and the Clippers were playing the Celtics later that night. It’s a really great atmosphere, a lot of fun.

And here’s something the Anaheim Ducks do before every game that I think the Avs could learn a lesson from. How about some fun stuff like this, that might make fans with kids want to come down to the Pepsi Center more. The atmosphere around the Pepsi Center, especially for night games, is dark and, frankly, boring.

Oh, so….Matt….judging from the result, you meant to hit the goal post dead on? You didn’t intend to score? If you intended to score, the puck would have gone into the goal and across the goal line. It didn’t, and your team lost the game. Maybe you could actually try scoring in a shootout sometime. You’re 2 for 11 in your career. You clearly showed us in the All-Star Game that you also can’t score on a penalty shot. It seems that the only thing you are good at is doing your stupid dangle-dangle-dipsy-do-in-the-corner-and-then-get-muscled-off-the-puck. How about manning up and saying that you haven’t been bringing your “A” game every night and you need to start doing that immediately. You get paid to score goals and set up your teammates. You get paid to hustle. You’re doing neither, and it’s a big reason why your team has lost 14 of their last 15 games.

Yeah, lets trade away the face of the franchise, the player who will be the best when it is all said and done instead of a guy that was coasting to the finish with the Avs. You people amaze me, Duchene is struggling because this team is total garbage I GUARANTEE you Duchene will be the better player between he and Stewart and it’s not even close.

I agree completely with your “dangle-dipsy do-lose the puck” comment. I think Duchene has alot of natural ability, but he’s become little more than a “one trick pony” as of late. I’ll cut him plenty of slack coz he’s still just a kid, but we’re fooling ourselves if we think he’s a year or two away from superstardom. Matt Duchene has ALOT of work to do on his game before he’s a consistent offensive threat at this level. And for now, I don’t even wanna mention his defensive play—other than it’s abysmal.

Oh shut up you “Red Wing” (which is a swear word in my house). What Duchene meant is that he moved the puck the way he wanted and he got the goalie to go down the way he wanted, but he hit the post. The Avs are in a slump right now and things aren’t going for them. It happens in sports. The kid is 20 years old! Why don’t you go count your farts in the corner….

It’s funny too. Do you remember last year? What was it that got us in the playoffs? Oh yeah, a MATT DUCHENE SHOOTOUT GOAL!!!! You clearly know very little about what you are talking about, so save yourself the embarrassment and learn stuff before you talk.

Oh, so….Matt….judging from the result, you meant to hit the goal post dead on? You didn’t intend to score? If you intended to score, the puck would have gone into the goal and across the goal line. It didn’t, and your team lost the game. Maybe you could actually try scoring in a shootout sometime. You’re 2 for 11 in your career. You clearly showed us in the All-Star Game that you also can’t score on a penalty shot. It seems that the only thing you are good at is doing your stupid dangle-dangle-dipsy-do-in-the-corner-and-then-get-muscled-off-the-puck. How about manning up and saying that you haven’t been bringing your “A” game every night and you need to start doing that immediately. You get paid to score goals and set up your teammates. You get paid to hustle. You’re doing neither, and it’s a big reason why your team has lost 14 of their last 15 games.

Yeah, lets trade away the face of the franchise, the player who will be the best when it is all said and done instead of a guy that was coasting to the finish with the Avs. You people amaze me, Duchene is struggling because this team is total garbage I GUARANTEE you Duchene will be the better player between he and Stewart and it’s not even close.

I agree completely with your “dangle-dipsy do-lose the puck” comment. I think Duchene has alot of natural ability, but he’s become little more than a “one trick pony” as of late. I’ll cut him plenty of slack coz he’s still just a kid, but we’re fooling ourselves if we think he’s a year or two away from superstardom. Matt Duchene has ALOT of work to do on his game before he’s a consistent offensive threat at this level. And for now, I don’t even wanna mention his defensive play—other than it’s abysmal.

Oh shut up you “Red Wing” (which is a swear word in my house). What Duchene meant is that he moved the puck the way he wanted and he got the goalie to go down the way he wanted, but he hit the post. The Avs are in a slump right now and things aren’t going for them. It happens in sports. The kid is 20 years old! Why don’t you go count your farts in the corner….

Another mistake this organization was the demotion Greg “don’t call me Karl” Mauldin. I bring this up cause he got sent down around the same time as Flash got hurt. Mauldin was the sparkplug that this team needed.

Mark my words, he WILL sign a one-way contact next year with an NHL team.

The Avs have made an incredible number of bad decisions. Among the recent ones –

Not resigning Brunette.
Not resigning Laperriere.
Not resigning Hendricks.
Not addressing the goaltending needs seriously since Roy retired.
Hung onto Svatos far too long hoping he was going to be a legit NHL player.
Giving up on Shattenkirk and Stewart far too early while trying to reclaim a semi-bust of a former @ 1 pick.
Trading a 1st round pick to Columbus for an already over the hill and ineffective Adam Foote.
Allowing Forsberg’s “comback” attempt to disrupt what the team was trying to do. Before he arrived, they still had a bit of a chance. Now there no longer is a chance.

Add these to several stupid and questionable moves in the past: Trading Deadmarsh. Trading Drury. Trading Tanguay. Etc.

I’m probably even leaving some out.

The front office people that work for this team have destroyed a once proud organization. The fans have left and are not coming back. Most have had enough, and I would not be very surprised to see this team in another city within 10 years or less.

BUT, lets let this Stewie/Johnson thing play out. EJ is someone if he stays healthy, we’ve really needed back there. Those guys don’t fall from trees, they don’t come from our own system fast enough and we needed a lot of help back there! Games like the SJ one I see what we’re getting.

Keep in mind………the Blues were right in the thick of getting into a playoff race and Stewie, where has he been the 2 games games that mattered most from them entering the race or entering the off-season? Back-to-Back shut outs. This is the same guy that frustrated us so much with the talent but way too many games were he’s invisible.

Totally agree on this. Stewy was awesome and dominant – about 30% of the time. 20% of the time he was trying hard but just not producing. The oth 50% he was flat-out missing, And he was also one of those “mumblers”, when you saw him in any interview he just didn’t have that spark that leads people.

In short, raw talent, occasional great efforts, often invisible, inexplicably missing at very important moments, NOT a leader.

Shatty on the other hand, he was a keeper in my eyes. Would rather have seen Liles move on than him. That kid had the spark…

And Johnson? FAR to early to tell, so let’s lay off for a bit. Keep in mind that every player needs other role-players around him to succeed… Pronger is only dominant when he has someone like Niedermeyer playing with him… when he’s alone out there he gets hit, turns over the puck, and makes mistakes just like the next guy. And yes, Pronger is the guy you compare Joihnson to.

I’ll agree, partly. However, Deadmarsh was traded for Blake. The Avs won the Cup in 2001 and Blake played a large role. Deadmarsh went on to get another concussion and had to retire. I was devastated they traded Deader, but for Blake, that’s not a bad deal. Tanguay hasn’t been that good since he left. But I can’t even remember who they got for him. Drury- dumbest trade they ever made. But Morris, even though he didn’t play well as an Av, is a pretty good player so it wasn’t a ridiculous gamble (not to say I liked it), it just didn’t work at the time. The irony is that Dater keeps saying the Avs need to get bigger/better at D and they need to get bigger up front. Well, trading Stewart certainly doesn’t help the bigger up front department.

He has admitted that dealing Stewart was a step back on the front end, but you have to admit, the offense was doing fine while he was injured, but the defense has been bad all year. Can’t fix everything at once, doesn’t defense win championships? or something like that……

I’m not happy they traded Stewart, but Johnson definitely has a lot of potential, is still quite young and let’s face it, how many really awesome young defenders are there? They usually take more time to get superstars. And I’m confident that Johnson will be a great player for us.
This season is basically over for us anyway, so I won’t be whining and bitching around anymore and wait what the management will do in the off-season.

Another mistake this organization was the demotion Greg “don’t call me Karl” Mauldin. I bring this up cause he got sent down around the same time as Flash got hurt. Mauldin was the sparkplug that this team needed.

Mark my words, he WILL sign a one-way contact next year with an NHL team.

The Avs have made an incredible number of bad decisions. Among the recent ones –

Not resigning Brunette.
Not resigning Laperriere.
Not resigning Hendricks.
Not addressing the goaltending needs seriously since Roy retired.
Hung onto Svatos far too long hoping he was going to be a legit NHL player.
Giving up on Shattenkirk and Stewart far too early while trying to reclaim a semi-bust of a former @ 1 pick.
Trading a 1st round pick to Columbus for an already over the hill and ineffective Adam Foote.
Allowing Forsberg’s “comback” attempt to disrupt what the team was trying to do. Before he arrived, they still had a bit of a chance. Now there no longer is a chance.

Add these to several stupid and questionable moves in the past: Trading Deadmarsh. Trading Drury. Trading Tanguay. Etc.

I’m probably even leaving some out.

The front office people that work for this team have destroyed a once proud organization. The fans have left and are not coming back. Most have had enough, and I would not be very surprised to see this team in another city within 10 years or less.

BUT, lets let this Stewie/Johnson thing play out. EJ is someone if he stays healthy, we’ve really needed back there. Those guys don’t fall from trees, they don’t come from our own system fast enough and we needed a lot of help back there! Games like the SJ one I see what we’re getting.

Keep in mind………the Blues were right in the thick of getting into a playoff race and Stewie, where has he been the 2 games games that mattered most from them entering the race or entering the off-season? Back-to-Back shut outs. This is the same guy that frustrated us so much with the talent but way too many games were he’s invisible.

Totally agree on this. Stewy was awesome and dominant – about 30% of the time. 20% of the time he was trying hard but just not producing. The oth 50% he was flat-out missing, And he was also one of those “mumblers”, when you saw him in any interview he just didn’t have that spark that leads people.

In short, raw talent, occasional great efforts, often invisible, inexplicably missing at very important moments, NOT a leader.

Shatty on the other hand, he was a keeper in my eyes. Would rather have seen Liles move on than him. That kid had the spark…

And Johnson? FAR to early to tell, so let’s lay off for a bit. Keep in mind that every player needs other role-players around him to succeed… Pronger is only dominant when he has someone like Niedermeyer playing with him… when he’s alone out there he gets hit, turns over the puck, and makes mistakes just like the next guy. And yes, Pronger is the guy you compare Joihnson to.

I’ll agree, partly. However, Deadmarsh was traded for Blake. The Avs won the Cup in 2001 and Blake played a large role. Deadmarsh went on to get another concussion and had to retire. I was devastated they traded Deader, but for Blake, that’s not a bad deal. Tanguay hasn’t been that good since he left. But I can’t even remember who they got for him. Drury- dumbest trade they ever made. But Morris, even though he didn’t play well as an Av, is a pretty good player so it wasn’t a ridiculous gamble (not to say I liked it), it just didn’t work at the time. The irony is that Dater keeps saying the Avs need to get bigger/better at D and they need to get bigger up front. Well, trading Stewart certainly doesn’t help the bigger up front department.

He has admitted that dealing Stewart was a step back on the front end, but you have to admit, the offense was doing fine while he was injured, but the defense has been bad all year. Can’t fix everything at once, doesn’t defense win championships? or something like that……

I’m not happy they traded Stewart, but Johnson definitely has a lot of potential, is still quite young and let’s face it, how many really awesome young defenders are there? They usually take more time to get superstars. And I’m confident that Johnson will be a great player for us.
This season is basically over for us anyway, so I won’t be whining and bitching around anymore and wait what the management will do in the off-season.

Oh, you’d be surprised how quickly teams can turn things around. If the Kranky’s open the wallet a bit and pick up a top-flight goalie, got get a stud to play with Johnson, and try to play a more balanced scheme (which would require ditching Sacco), I could easily see us topping 95 points next year.

Oh, you’d be surprised how quickly teams can turn things around. If the Kranky’s open the wallet a bit and pick up a top-flight goalie, got get a stud to play with Johnson, and try to play a more balanced scheme (which would require ditching Sacco), I could easily see us topping 95 points next year.

Thanks for the blog. Could you update us on the Avalanche’s 2011 draft picks ? If I am not mistaken, they would have their own 1st pick plus the one they got from the trade with the Blues (conditional 2011 or 2012). If possible, please provide all of the picks available to them (other rounds). Sorry for the English. It has a Quebeker accent !
By the way, I like the trade with the Blues. Championships start with defence. Johnson for Stewart is fair for both club, but I think the Blues will lose on this one in the end. We will raise a Stanley Cup before them. With regard to Shattenkirk, he did not fit our need on the mid-long-term (especially keeping Liles). then Barrie and Elliot are coming up. Finally, McClement surely fits in as a defensive center. We need to let O’Reilly grows quietly.

Thanks for the blog. Could you update us on the Avalanche’s 2011 draft picks ? If I am not mistaken, they would have their own 1st pick plus the one they got from the trade with the Blues (conditional 2011 or 2012). If possible, please provide all of the picks available to them (other rounds). Sorry for the English. It has a Quebeker accent !
By the way, I like the trade with the Blues. Championships start with defence. Johnson for Stewart is fair for both club, but I think the Blues will lose on this one in the end. We will raise a Stanley Cup before them. With regard to Shattenkirk, he did not fit our need on the mid-long-term (especially keeping Liles). then Barrie and Elliot are coming up. Finally, McClement surely fits in as a defensive center. We need to let O’Reilly grows quietly.

One of the major problems facing the Avalanche is that, even though they have boatloads of money available, what top flight free agents will want to come to Denver to spend their prime years on a rebuilding club? My answer is not many if any. There are too many other options. People here are talking about getting Vokoun. Why would he come here? There are so many other teams that are much more attractive. It’s not like the Avs sell out many games anymore. Pepsi Center isn’t the glitzy, shiny, brand new arena it once was. There are no more Roy’s, Sakic’s and Forsberg’s to play with. There are no clear up and coming star players. There isn’t a Crosby or Ovechkin here. There isn’t the history or a Detroit, Philly, New York, or Chicago. Denver isn’t a major media market like an L.A. or NY.
You have to have something to show free agent players to gain their attention. There isn’t much. Also, what players really want to come and play for Joe Sacco? How many of them really know who the heck Sacco is? Not like he’s got a sterling reputation.
I just find if interesting that many here think it’s easy to just throw a huge contract at a player, and he’s going to automatically sign it, even for a bad team. That just doesn’t work much any more if it works at all. Players want to win, but if they can get it, they also want to win and make a lot of money. Few go for just the money any longer.

You nailed it. The Avs are now bottom feeders. They will be for the forseeable future. No way a top free agent comes to this trainwreck. Not for a while anyway. That just leaves us to suffer through the rebuild. It was bound to happen at some point. No team keeps winning forever. Look at the Wings. They had to stink all through the 70’s and 80’s before they finally got it together. They’ve been a finely tuned machine for the last 2 decades. The Avs will eventually be back, but it’s going to take 5-7 years to get there.

You nailed it. The Avs are now bottom feeders. They will be for the forseeable future. No way a top free agent comes to this trainwreck. Not for a while anyway. That just leaves us to suffer through the rebuild. It was bound to happen at some point. No team keeps winning forever. Look at the Wings. They had to stink all through the 70’s and 80’s before they finally got it together. They’ve been a finely tuned machine for the last 2 decades. The Avs will eventually be back, but it’s going to take 5-7 years to get there.

Well, we won’t know for sure until the organization actually TRIES to bring some decent free agents on board. Just a couple would be a big help. The Av’s need to be smarter about not signing ones that are past their prime though.

One of the major problems facing the Avalanche is that, even though they have boatloads of money available, what top flight free agents will want to come to Denver to spend their prime years on a rebuilding club? My answer is not many if any. There are too many other options. People here are talking about getting Vokoun. Why would he come here? There are so many other teams that are much more attractive. It’s not like the Avs sell out many games anymore. Pepsi Center isn’t the glitzy, shiny, brand new arena it once was. There are no more Roy’s, Sakic’s and Forsberg’s to play with. There are no clear up and coming star players. There isn’t a Crosby or Ovechkin here. There isn’t the history or a Detroit, Philly, New York, or Chicago. Denver isn’t a major media market like an L.A. or NY.
You have to have something to show free agent players to gain their attention. There isn’t much. Also, what players really want to come and play for Joe Sacco? How many of them really know who the heck Sacco is? Not like he’s got a sterling reputation.
I just find if interesting that many here think it’s easy to just throw a huge contract at a player, and he’s going to automatically sign it, even for a bad team. That just doesn’t work much any more if it works at all. Players want to win, but if they can get it, they also want to win and make a lot of money. Few go for just the money any longer.

One of the major problems facing the Avalanche is that, even though they have boatloads of money available, what top flight free agents will want to come to Denver to spend their prime years on a rebuilding club? My answer is not many if any. There are too many other options. People here are talking about getting Vokoun. Why would he come here? There are so many other teams that are much more attractive. It’s not like the Avs sell out many games anymore. Pepsi Center isn’t the glitzy, shiny, brand new arena it once was. There are no more Roy’s, Sakic’s and Forsberg’s to play with. There are no clear up and coming star players. There isn’t a Crosby or Ovechkin here. There isn’t the history or a Detroit, Philly, New York, or Chicago. Denver isn’t a major media market like an L.A. or NY.
You have to have something to show free agent players to gain their attention. There isn’t much. Also, what players really want to come and play for Joe Sacco? How many of them really know who the heck Sacco is? Not like he’s got a sterling reputation.
I just find if interesting that many here think it’s easy to just throw a huge contract at a player, and he’s going to automatically sign it, even for a bad team. That just doesn’t work much any more if it works at all. Players want to win, but if they can get it, they also want to win and make a lot of money. Few go for just the money any longer.

You nailed it. The Avs are now bottom feeders. They will be for the forseeable future. No way a top free agent comes to this trainwreck. Not for a while anyway. That just leaves us to suffer through the rebuild. It was bound to happen at some point. No team keeps winning forever. Look at the Wings. They had to stink all through the 70’s and 80’s before they finally got it together. They’ve been a finely tuned machine for the last 2 decades. The Avs will eventually be back, but it’s going to take 5-7 years to get there.

Well, we won’t know for sure until the organization actually TRIES to bring some decent free agents on board. Just a couple would be a big help. The Av’s need to be smarter about not signing ones that are past their prime though.

who cares? hes a sen now, and lets be honest he never was a true av, not this season anyway! i agree that he is good, but his attitude towards the team that made him a star is pure garbage and we dont need that kind of an unstable personality, espeically from an unproven goalie! andy, you turned your back on fans that loved you last season and for what? a few extra bucks! excpect a cold reception from us when you visit the pepsi center next time. freakin sellout!

God seriously, will people get over Anderson? He quit on us! He’s doing so well in Ottawa because he decided to try again and I for one am mad as hell. For him to be able to just turn it on like that in such a short amount of time shows he flat out was NOT trying. F**k you Anderson.

who cares? hes a sen now, and lets be honest he never was a true av, not this season anyway! i agree that he is good, but his attitude towards the team that made him a star is pure garbage and we dont need that kind of an unstable personality, espeically from an unproven goalie! andy, you turned your back on fans that loved you last season and for what? a few extra bucks! excpect a cold reception from us when you visit the pepsi center next time. freakin sellout!

God seriously, will people get over Anderson? He quit on us! He’s doing so well in Ottawa because he decided to try again and I for one am mad as hell. For him to be able to just turn it on like that in such a short amount of time shows he flat out was NOT trying. F**k you Anderson.

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.

Chambers covers college and professional hockey for The Denver Post. He has written for the Post since 1994, after dumping his first 9-to-5 office job a couple years out of college. He primarily follows the University of Denver hockey team and helps cover the Avalanche.